Bale first caught the public eye at the age of 13, when he was cast in the starring role of Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun (1987). Based on the original story by J. G. Ballard, Bale played an English boy who is separated from his parents and subsequently finds himself lost in a Japanese internment camp during World War II.[3] In 2000, he garnered critical acclaim for his portrayal of serial killer Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000). He is known for going to great lengths to portray characters in film, notably for the psychological thriller The Machinist (2004), where he lost 63 pounds (28,5 kg) to play the role of Trevor Reznik.[4]

His parents divorced in 1991, and while his mother and sister Sharon stayed in Bournemouth, he moved with his father to Los Angeles, California at age seventeen.[12] He has not spoken to Sharon since she had him arrested without charge after he allegedly ranted at her at The Dorchester hotel in 2008.[12] His first acting role was a commercial for the fabric softener Lenor in 1982. A year later, he appeared in a Pac-Man cereal commercial playing a child rock star. In 1984, he made his stage debut in The Nerd on London's West End with Rowan Atkinson.[13]

1999–2001

In 1999, Bale played serial killerPatrick Bateman in American Psycho, director Mary Harron's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' controversial novel. Bale was briefly dropped from the project in favour of Leonardo DiCaprio, but DiCaprio eventually dropped out to star in The Beach, and Bale was cast once again. He researched his character by studying the novel and prepared himself physically for the role by spending months tanning and exercising in order to achieve the "Olympian physique" of the character as described in the original novel.[17] He went so far as to distance himself from the cast and crew to maintain the darker side of Bateman's character. American Psycho premiered at the 2000 Sundance Film Festival to much controversy. Roger Ebert condemned the film at first, calling it pornography[18] and "the most loathed film at Sundance,"[19] but gave it a favourable review, writing that Harron had "transformed a novel about bloodlust into a film about men's vanity." Of Bale's performance, he wrote, "Christian Bale is heroic in the way he allows the character to leap joyfully into despicability; there is no instinct for self-preservation here, and that is one mark of a good actor."[20]

2002–2004

From 2002–03, Bale starred in three feature films. The drama Laurel Canyon (2002) was generally well received by critics.[22] This film marked the second time he worked with actress Kate Beckinsale, his costar in Prince of Jutland (1994). Critics generally focused on star Frances McDormand's performance over the rest of the cast, however.[23]

The post-apocalyptic action fantasy film Reign of Fire was Bale's first action vehicle and had, compared to all his previous work, an immense budget estimated at US$95,000,000.[24] Bale entered into negotiations about starring in the film with reservations, but director Rob Bowman convinced him to take the lead role.[25] Bale starred as Quinn Abercromby opposite Matthew McConaughey's Denton Van Zan. Bale and McConaughey trained for their respective roles by boxing and working out.[25]

Equilibrium was Bale's third film of 2002, costing US$20 million to produce but earning just over US$5 million worldwide.[26] In Equilibrium, Bale played John Preston, an elite law enforcer in a dystopian society. Equilibrium featured a fictional martial art called Gun Kata that combined gunfighting with hand-to-hand combat. According to moviebodycounts.com, the character of John Preston has the third most on-screen kills in a single movie ever with 118, exactly half of the movie's total of 236.[27]

After a year's hiatus, Bale returned in 2004 to play Trevor Reznik, the title character in the psychological thrillerThe Machinist. Bale gained attention for his devotion to the role and for the lengths to which he went to achieve Reznik's emaciated, skeletal appearance. He went without proper rest for prolonged periods, and placed himself on a crash diet of generally coffee and apples,[28] which reduced his weight by 63 pounds (4 st 4 lb or 27 kg) in a matter of months.[29]

By the end of filming Bale weighed only 121 pounds (8 st 9 lb or 55 kg),[28] a transformation he described as "very calming mentally"[30] which drew comparisons to Robert De Niro's alternate weight-gaining regimen for his role as Jake LaMotta in the 1980 film Raging Bull.[31] Bale claimed that he had not worked for a period of time before he was cast in the film. "[...I] just hadn't found scripts that I'd really been interested in. So I was really dying for something to arrive. Then when this one did, I just didn't want to put it down. I finished it and, upon the kind of revelation that you get at the end, I immediately wanted to go back and re-visit it, to take a look at what clues I could have gotten throughout".[32]The Machinist was a low-budget production, costing roughly US$5 million to produce, and was given only a limited US release. It was well received, with the review tallying website Rotten Tomatoes reporting that 77% of the critics' reviews tallied were positive.[33]

Still fresh off The Machinist, it became necessary for Bale to bulk up to match Batman's muscular physique. He was given a deadline of six months to do this. Bale recalled it as far from a simple accomplishment: "...when it actually came to building muscle, I was useless. I couldn't do one push up the first day. All of the muscles were gone, so I had a real tough time rebuilding all of that."[29] With the help of a personal trainer, Bale succeeded in meeting the deadline, gaining a total of 100 lb (45 kg) in six months. He went from about 130 lbs to 230 lbs.[37] He discovered that he had actually gained more weight than the director desired, and dropped his weight to 190 lbs by the time filming began.[38]

Bale had initial concerns about playing Batman, as he felt more ridiculous than intimidating in the Batsuit. He dealt with this by depicting Batman as a savage beast.[29] To attain a deeper understanding of the character, Bale read various Batman comic books. He explained his interpretation of the young boy: "Batman is his hidden, demonic rage-filled side. The creature Batman creates is an absolutely sincere creature and one that he has to control but does so in a very haphazard way. He's capable of enacting violence — and to kill — so he's constantly having to rein himself in." For Bale, the most gruelling part about playing Batman was the suit. "You stick it on, you get hot, you sweat and you get a headache in the mask ... But I'm not going to bitch about it because I get to play Batman", he said.[39] When promoting the film in interviews and public events, Bale retained an American accent to avoid confusion.[40]

Batman Begins was released in the U.S. on 15 June 2005 and was a U.S. and international triumph for Warner Bros., costing approximately US$135 million to produce and taking in over US$370 million in returns worldwide.[41] Bale's performance was well received by critics and fans alike, earning him the Saturn Award for Best Actor and the Best Hero award at the 2006 MTV Movie Awards.[42]

Bale reprised the role of Batman in the sequel The Dark Knight. He trained in the Keysi Fighting Method, and performed many of his own stunts.[43]The Dark Knight was released in the U.S. on 18 July 2008 and stormed through the box office, with a record-breaking $158.4 million in the U.S. in its first weekend.[44] It broke the $300 million barrier in 10 days, the $400 million mark in 18 days and the $500 million mark in 43 days, three new U.S. box office records set by the film.[45] The film went on to gross over $1 billion at the box office worldwide, making it the fourth-highest grossing movie worldwide ever at that time, before adjusting for inflation.[46]

Terrence Malick directed The New World, a period piece inspired by the stories of Pocahontas, and Bale was cast as John Rolfe. He shared the screen with Colin Farrell and Q'Orianka Kilcher, who played John Smith and Pocahontas. The majority of screen time was devoted to Farrell and Kilcher; Bale was a secondary character, and only appeared during the last third of the film. The film was a failure at the U.S. box office and its worldwide total (US$29,506,437) fell short of turning a profit (the production budget was placed at US$30 million).[52]

In 2006, Bale took on four projects. Rescue Dawn, by German filmmaker Werner Herzog, had him playing U.S. Fighter pilot Dieter Dengler, who has to fight for his life after being shot down while on a mission during the Vietnam War. Bale left a strong impression on Herzog, with the director complimenting his acting abilities: "I find him one of the greatest talents of his generation. We made up our own minds long before he did Batman."[53]

"I kind of like movies where I just get to just be dirty and crawling in the mud, "Rescue Dawn" it was all very primordial stuff, and with this one it was all about wearing the same clothes day after day and getting sweaty and dirty and sun exposure, and it's meant to be like that; Westerns are meant to be dirty, they shouldn't be all nice and clean. And I like getting my hand dirty."

Terminator Salvation incident

In July 2008, Bale flew into an angry tirade on the sets of Terminator Salvation, while filming in New Mexico.[58] In February 2009, the audio recording of the incident was released.[59][60][61] The tirade was directed at Shane Hurlbut, director of photography for the film. According to Bale, Hurlbut had, for the second time, ruined his concentration by walking onto the set during a scene.[58][62][63] The recording is of Bale directing profanities at Hurlbut, threatening and belittling him, and finally threatening to quit the film if Hurlbut repeated the offense without being fired for it.[62] It was reported that Warner film executives sent the tape to the insurer of the film in case Bale decided to quit the movie.[64]

In an interview with E! Online, assistant director and producer of Terminator Salvation, Bruce Franklin, said it was an isolated incident. "If you are working in a very intense scene and someone takes you out of your groove ... It was the most emotional scene in the movie ... and for him to get stopped in the middle of it. He is very intensely involved in his character. He didn't walk around like that all day long. It was just a moment and it passed", Franklin said.[65]

After remaining silent for most of the week, Bale made a public apology on 6 February 2009, to a Los Angeles radio station, KROQ, stating that the outburst was "inexcusable" and was motivated by the intensity of that day's shooting.[73] Bale said he "acted like a punk", and that he and Hurlbut talked after the incident and "resolved this completely".[74] Bale acknowledged that the two worked together for several hours after the incident, and "at least a month after that... I've seen a rough cut of the movie and he has done a wonderful job. It looks fantastic."[74]

In December 2010, it was announced that Bale would star in the historical drama war film, The Flowers of War, directed by Zhang Yimou.[80] While filming The Flowers of War in January 2011, Bale and a CNN crew attempted to visit Chen Guangcheng, a blind "barefoot lawyer" under unofficial house arrest for his activism against China's One Child Policy. While on camera, Bale was punched, shoved, and denied access by dozens of Chinese security guards who failed to recognise him.[81] Bale later added that he had wanted "to meet the man, shake his hand and say what an inspiration he is".[82][83] Video footage also showed Bale and the CNN crew having stones thrown at them, and a minivan then chased their car for more than 40 minutes.[81]

In 2013, Bale portrayed Russell Baze in Scott Cooper's thrillerOut of the Furnace,[84][85][86] and starred in American Hustle, which reunited him with director David O. Russell, after their work on The Fighter.[87][88][89][90] After losing 60 pounds for his role in The Machinist, Bale went to great lengths to play American Hustle's lead Irving Rosenfeld, a con man. He gained 43 pounds, shaved his head to yield a realistic comb over, and affected a slouch shortening his height by 3 inches which resulted in a herniated disc.[91] De Niro, who had a cameo role in the film, reportedly did not recognize him when they were introduced.[92] Bale starred as Moses in Ridley Scott's Biblical epic, Exodus,[93][94] which was released on 12 December 2014.[95]

^ abBBC News staff (6 February 2009). "Actor Bale speaks out over rant". BBC News. Retrieved 6 February 2009. Film star Christian Bale has called a US radio station to apologize for a tirade which was leaked onto the internet, calling it 'inexcusable'